REVIEW: The Artist's Greatness Speaks Louder Than Words

We rarely think of as great movies as breezy ones: Breeziness is supposedly only for disposable entertainment, though achieving filmmaking greatness in the way we normally think of it — with impressive sets, heavy-duty acting and ultra-polished cinematography — is probably easier than brushing a movie with just the right amount of gold dust. Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist is a gold dust movie, a picture whose very boldness lies in its perceived lightness. This is a silent movie in black-and-white, and if it were only that, it would be a pleasant novelty. But The Artist isn’t a nostalgia trip, nor is it a scolding admonishment to honor the past. Instead, it’s a picture that romances its audience into watching in a new way — by, paradoxically, asking us to watch in an old way. The Artist is perhaps the most modern movie imaginable right now. The picture opens in 1927, just as silent-film star George Valentin — played by Jean Dujardin, a genuine movie star in France, though his allure is intercontinental — is riding high. As the movie opens, he’s watching himself in his latest picture from behind the movie screen; his character is a suave masked bandit in an evening suit, accompanied by an efficient Jack Russell who’s also his partner in crime in real life. (He’s played by a fetching actor dog named Uggie.) At home, George’s life is less glamorous and more troubled. His wife, played by a platinum-haired Penelope Ann Miller, is bored and unhappy and lets him know it, particularly when she sees a newspaper photograph in which he’s chastely kissing a comely young woman who wandered into the spotlight at his movie’s premiere. The woman in the newspaper snapshot is an aspiring starlet herself, and she uses her temporary fame — as well as her killer gams — to get a walk-on part in the movie George is filming. This salty-sweet ingenue wants the world to know who she is: “The name’s Peppy — Peppy Miller!” she announces to everyone and no one in particular. (She’s played by Argentina-born French actress Brnice Bejo, an expressive beauty with bobbed hair and incandescent eyes.) Even before George knows Peppy’s name, sparks fly between them on the set: We see it in a marvelous sequence constructed of numerous discarded takes, each one messed up by George’s flummoxed response to this pretty young extra. But George, a married man, resists. (This is a Hollywood movie we’re talking about, not the actual Hollywood.) And so Peppy reluctantly leaves him behind, but not before he gives her a priceless tip about how to make it in the business. Two years later, with the advent of talkies, George will end up broke and forgotten — though not completely forgotten: Peppy, whose star ascended just as George’s sank, remembers the break he gave her when she was just a pretty face and a great set of stems hoping to break into motion pictures. The Artist — which Hazanavicius also wrote — harbors shades of Singin’ in the Rain and A Star Is Born, but in the end it’s its own distinctive creature. It’s also an extraordinarily disciplined picture: Shot by Guillame Schiffman, it throws off a satiny moonlight glow — this is one of the most gorgeous-looking movies I’ve seen all year. Ludovic Bource’s jaunty, champagne-bubble score is period-perfect. And Hazanavicius — best known for the French-made OSS spoof movies — keeps a sure grip on the picture’s tone. The Artist dips into areas of darkness you don’t expect, though Hazanavicius has a light touch as he guides us through the story’s subtle gradations. He also dots the movie with clever touches that are never overworked or arch: George, after hearing that sound pictures are the wave of the future and laughing the news off heartily, lifts a glass from his dressing table and lets it down with a surprise thud — the first, though not the last, sound heard in the picture. It’s not giving too much away to tell you that The Artist ends with a dance sequence, and at that point I felt as if Hazanavicius had responded to the furtive prayers I’ve been offering to the movie gods for years: He renders that dance in long, glorious takes. No crazy cutting to make the steps look more exciting; no close-ups of the feet to show us how fast they’re moving. I had pretty much given up hope that filmmakers knew how to do that sort of thing anymore. Hazanavicius and his actors (which also include John Goodman as a growly-bear studio boss and Missi Pyle as a spoiled, brassy megastar) seem to be in tune with a lot of things that other filmmakers and performers have forgotten — or perhaps have been forced to forget, given what sells in Hollywood movies these days. (The Artist, incidentally, was itself shot in Hollywood.) Smart, quiet movies — let alone smart, silent ones — are hardly the order of the day. Many young people I know laugh at silent movies and silent acting, viewing them as something ancient and foreign, written in a code they can’t possibly understand. As the writer Eileen Whitfield observed in her wonderful biography of Mary Pickford, Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood, modern audiences often view silent movies as if they’re trying to be talkies and failing, whereas they’re really much closer to dance, a symbolic re-enactment. In that sense, silents are stories told in purely visual terms — there are no handy voice-overs to accentuate what we’re seeing on-screen, no hefty chunks of expository dialogue. They may look strange and overdone to audiences who aren’t used to them, but they’re not extreme at all — they’re actually extremely economical. In Bejo and Dujardin, Hazanavicius has found actors who understand that intuitively. Bejo is radiant, but there’s also something solemn and grounded about her. And while Dujardin is almost criminally good-looking, as well as being a superb physical actor — he’s a little Douglas Fairbanks, a little Gene Kelly — he understands that his role demands as much gravity as anti-gravity. The Artist is deeply enjoyable, brioche-light in all the right ways, but it’s also focused and intense — even its joyousness is intense. It begins as a novelty and ends as so much more: In The Artist, the present greets the past like a long-lost friend. This is a movie in which the pleasure of watching is its own glorious sound. Editor’s note: Portions of this review appeared earlier in Stephanie Zacharek’s Cannes Film Festival coverage. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Meghan McCain Becomes MSNBC Contributor

NBC News’ love affair with children of powerful politicians continues. True, the daughter of former GOP presidential candidate John McCain was already a frequent contributor on MSNBC. But news about her new gig follows the announcement last week that NBC had hired Chelsea Clinton. Former President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush also is a correspondent at the network. Too bad for professional journalists looking for work at a time when there are few openings. Here’s the announcement: NY November 21, 2011 Meghan McCain has joined MSNBC as a contributor, with her first appearance today at noon ET on NOW with Alex Wagner. She has been a frequent MSNBC guest since 2009. “I couldn’t more be excited to be joining the MSNBC family, said McCain. It’s a unique opportunity to share my perspective as a Republican on a network I respect and have built a relationship with over the past two years.” As the daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain, Meghan McCain was propelled into the national spotlight at an early age. Her unparalleled exposure to American politics gave her the opportunity to hear voters debate the most complex issues first-hand. McCains time on the campaign trail with her father inspired her acclaimed memoir, Dirty Sexy Politics. The book chronicles her personal journey across the American political landscape. Campaigning with her father also inspired McCain to publish My Dad, John McCain, an illustrated children’s book that brings her father’s heroic story to life. As a columnist for The Daily Beast, she passionately discusses women’s issues, social issues, marriage equality and her firm belief that there is room for all walks of life in the GOP. While in college, McCain worked at Newsweek magazine and Saturday Night Live. She is a graduate of Columbia University and currently resides in NY City.

Ough Gervais Promises This Years Golden Globes Will Probably Be His Last and several Offensive

Maybe Ough Gervais wasn’t kidding when he tweeted he's mentioned the Holocaust and pedophilia as Golden Globe monologue material. The polarizing Globes host and comedian has needed to his blog to share his true (R-rated) intent in hosting this year’s ceremony also to are convinced that he'll make site visitors a lot more uncomfortable in comparison as to the they believed a year ago. Yikes! Gervais describes that hosting the Globes for your “third and definitely final time” will be a difficult decision but “what really expected the quantity making me say yes, was the fact it could shut up all people fucking idiots who mentioned that we’d 't be requested back. Is the wrong reason to behave? ' '. It's.” Now that we believe he isn’t while using high road, allow Gervais to explain which in the lower avenues he intentions of utilizing this The month of the month of january 15. “Now here’s the main one factor,” Hollywood’s most beloved/hated insulter begins. “The outrage I triggered was clearly, of course, totally from proportion for the a couple of a few things i mentioned. I don’t think anybody had any to become upset nonetheless they were. This year I’m likely to make sure their offence is completely justified. […] Follow me on Twitter and let me know your favourite targets for your monologue. I’m experiencing it already.” Here you're going, Movieliners. Let me know which team you’ll be suggesting as monologue targets inside the space below. · Week one hundred and 90-four - November 2011 [RickyGervais.com]

A dent date?

Broderick O'Hara The Primary Stem's approaching musical comedy "Nice Work If You're Able To Have ItInch has set a dent date of April 24 in the Imperial Theater.Revue stars Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara and it is helmed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, who won the Tony on her choreography of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes.""Nice Work" includes set design by Derek McLane and costumes by Martin Pakledinaz -- each of whom worked with with Marshall on "Anything Goes." Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

'Drive' Composer Cliff Martinez: 'I'm Mystified' By the Success of My Score

While, the audience reaction to 'Drive' has been mixed, the one thing that practically everyone has agreed on is the film's awesome music. For that, you can thank composer Cliff Martinez. While Martinez had nothing to do with writing the film's two most recognizable tracks -- 'A Real Hero' by College and 'Nightcall' by Kavinsky -- he did score the haunting instrumental tunes that played throughout the Nicolas Winding Refn-directed film. Martinez has already written music for movies such as 'Sex, Lies and Videotape,' 'Contagion' and 'Traffic,' but this is the first time he's received a large amount of attention for his work -- something that he's a bit "mystified" with. In an interview with Spinner, Martinez said It's totally weird. I'm gratified that the music is getting so much attention, but I'm mystified by it. It's a good film. I'd like to think that I've worked on a few good films before. I know the songs ['A Real Hero' and 'Night Call'] were very popular, but they were available long before the film came out. I know the score is good, but I'd like to think that I've written some good scores before, so the fact that it's getting all this attention is new and unexpected. While Martinez is surprised at the response to the 'Drive' score, his entire career can more or less be categorized that way. After all, Martinez began as a drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefhart before moving on to score movies. He admits that "it was kind of by accident." Said Martinez: "I'd like to think that I'm versatile, and can do anything from a Broadway musical to a tampon commercial, but in fact, I'm probably good at a very specific type of film score." Weirdly enough, Martinez started composing films after director Steven Soderbergh heard the work he'd done on an episode of 'Pee Wee's Playhouse.' Martinez also talked about his process recording the score for 'Drive,' and the work he's done on movies in the past such as 'Sex, Lies and Videotape.' You can read about it in the full interview on Spinner. [via Spinner] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

The Hollywood Reporter Announces New Employs

La, CA-November 4, 2011-- The Hollywood Reporter introduced today that Andy Lewis has became a member of THR like a staff author and Gary Baum like a staff reporter the art department will promote Julie Jamerson to art production assistant manager.our editor recommendsThe Hollywood Reporter Cover Tales Lewis covers a number of subjects including books and private electronics. During the last six several weeks he's written for THR concerning the Dodgers' personal bankruptcy, examined books on Steven Tyler and ESPN, and it has damaged news concerning the book and movie privileges for that SEAL Team Six story. Lewis holds a b -.A. in the College of Pennsylvania, a PhD in American History in the College of Virginia and it has trained at Wesleyan College and also the College of Richmond. He seemed to be another at Harvard College. He's the writer and editor of 4 books, including his newest, The Shadows of Youth. His work has additionally made an appearance within the Washington Publish, The La Occasions, Fortune as well as on NPR. He'll are accountable to THR.com Editor Frederick Kapsch. PHOTOS: The Hollywood Reporter Cover Tales Gary Baum will lead towards the Style contributing to Town sections, such as the Rambling Reporter page. He'll also cover restaurants and write THR's weekly online Eat Sheet tales. In June he authored "L.A.'s Energy Golf Equipment: In which the Hollywood Elite Play" for that magazine. Baum involves THR from Angeleno where he would be a senior editor covering dining, night life, art, culture and business. Baum is really a graduate of USC's Annenberg School of Journalism. He'll are accountable to Culture Editor Degen Pener. THR Art Production Connect Julie Jamerson continues to be marketed to Art Production Assistant Manager. Jamerson became a member of THR for that re-launch in October 2010 and was formerly at Atlanta Magazine and Bon Applicationétit. Concerning The Hollywood Reporter Popular publication which has maintained Hollywood for 81 years, The Hollywood Reporter went through a radical transformation in November 2010, having a significantly remodeled website that now draws in 4.4 million unique monthly site visitors along with a new, much acclaimed glossy weekly magazine format. The Hollywood Reporter may be the definitive interpretive voice from the entertainment industry. Wise, incisive tales and breaking news are shipped across a multimedia platform which features a daily news PDF as well as an iPad application. The Hollywood Reporter is read through the most effective people within the entertainment industry and also the most influential customers who abide by it--individuals who shape desire, set trends and ultimately drive culture--supplying an unmatched degree of access and influence. Related Subjects Hirings-firings